Stringed instruments such as guitars, ukuleles, banjos and the like have long enjoyed popularity among experienced and aspiring musicians. A string instrument (or stringed instrument) is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings, usually over a sounding board and/or resonating chamber. Plucking, bowing, and striking are the three most common techniques used in creating musical sounds from a stringed instrument.
String instruments produce sound from one or more vibrating strings, transferred to the air by the body of the instrument or by a pickup device in the case of amplified instruments. A vibrating string makes only a very quiet sound on its own. Thus string instruments are usually constructed in such a way that this sound is coupled to a hollow resonating chamber, a sounding board, or both.
It is sometimes said that the sounding board or sound-box “amplifies” the sound of the strings. Technically speaking, no actually amplification occurs, because all of the energy to produce sound comes from the vibrating string. Instead, the sounding board of the instrument provides a larger surface area to create sound waves than that of the string. A larger vibrating surface moves more air, hence produces a louder sound.
Achieving a tonal characteristic that is effective and pleasing to the ear is an art, and the makers of string instruments often seek special woods to this end, particularly spruce (chosen for its lightness, strength and flexibility) and maple (a very hard wood).